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Sunday, October 20, 2013

"Mustache"

This was a birthday gift for my good friend, Nicole. Like me, she adores her cats (and has a thing for mushrooms, antlers and mustaches).

This painting features her big cat, Bella, wearing antlers and sporting a very charismatic mustache--with the help of the shy, muted tortie, Olive. I wanted their surroundings to be very dreamlike, as if they'd both stepped into an Alice in Wonderland sort of landscape.

Needless to say, it was very hard to part with this piece. Therefore, I'll definitely be making more of these. Painting on wood is such a pleasure. If you Gesso it well, the paint slides perfectly over the surface. This is especially useful if you need to paint fine hairs.

I used a mixture of Acryla Gouache, Acrylics, Gouache and Caran D'Ache colored pencils, which I use to draw the design on the surface before applying any paint. As I begin to slap on some color, the colored pencil markings blend with a little bit of water (they're water-soluble), but I don't go out of my way to completely cover them up. I love the "sketchy" look, and with traditional art, it's always nice to see every medium and brushstroke used to create the final illustration.